Ry Rocklen Creates Site Specific Absolut Art Bar Pavilion In Miami

A site specific pavilion which launches annually during Art Basel Miami week, brings together a brand new collaboration with the Los Angeles-based artist Ry Rocklen, who will create an installation titled, ‘Night Court’.

This imaginative environment sponsored by the Absolut Vodka brand will draw on Rocklen’s recently unveiled line of useable furniture made of trophy parts or what he calls, ‘Trophy Modern’. Using the principles and aesthetics of Trophy Modern at the heart of Night Court’s design, Rocklen examines the culture of competition and success. The installation will feature Trophy Modern furnishings including a bar, bleachers, ping pong and chess tables all set within larger than life size basketball court markings.

Rocklen has been given carte blanche to programme every element of this ambitious installation, from concept and design to programming, including collaborations with international recording artists. Rocklen will also work with Absolut mixologists to create limited-edition Absolut cocktails inspired by the overall concept for Night Court.

Ry Rocklen’s work often focuses on using found or abandoned objects such as discarded mattresses, pillows, towels, chairs, and phonebooks reinventing their former usage and saving them from oblivion. Rocklen’s work subverts our expectations of everyday objects by manipulating their surface and materiality. The resulting sculptures are both familiar and often humorous transforming common and mundane objects into a spectacle for the viewer.

Night Court is the latest in a series of pop-up Absolut bars designed by leading contemporary artists following critically acclaimed recent installations by Mickalene Thomas, Adrian Wong and Los Carpinteros. Rocklen’s large scale site-specific art bar will be open throughout the day and until 2am for the duration of Art Basel in Miami Beach.

Ry Rocklen was born in 1978 and attended UCLA. Having exhibited internationally his work has been included at the Made in L.A. at the Hammer Museum (2012), Athens Bienniale (2009), Whitney Biennial (2008) and Art Basel Miami Beach (2005, 2009, 2012). Rocklen has been part of several group exhibitions as well as solo shows at UNT/TLED in New York, Bernier/ Eliades in Athens and LA’s Black Dragon Society. Rocklen is represented by UNT/TLED in New York and Thomas Solomon Gallery in Los Angeles. Rocklen is also a member of Los Angeles-based rap duo the Bushes with fellow artist Nick Lowe.

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